Topic: TAR: Where are we Going? Suggestions for the Future!

[G.B.]

After four seasons of celebrity TAR Vietnam and three-ish seasons of celebrity TAR China, I can say without a doubt that celebrities are just not meant to run the race. They tend to quit a ridiculously high number of challenges and just take the penalty, sometimes even without trying the task in the first place.

[nrh2110]

Going to put my input in RED

•   Twists

>      CBS has been experimenting on twists to try and salvage the Amazing Race but going in this direction is doing the show no good. Apparently, the Season 28’s “Social Media Cast” really did not live to their expectations despite all of them having huge fan bases. Their viewership is still low.


>      Season 26’s “Dating” themed season was atrocious on all levels. It is as bad as Season 24. None of the Blind-Dating teams even sparked a relationship. Also, there were too many double legs on the same country: Japan, Thailand, Namibia, Peru which some of the tasks were underwhelming. The only redeemable part was Hayley & Blair, a visit to Monaco and return visits to Peru and Namibia.

>      They dubbed Season 24 an “All-Star” season, when clearly it was not. It was even no near the Unfinished Business season The tasks were beyond simple, a teenager could do that. Clear examples would include Season 24’s Spain leg. They went there to shave a balloon. Really? This is Spain, another country teeming with loads of activities and culture. I remember, in Season 18’s Unfinished Business, Phil said “This race is going to harder than your previous races.” The cast of Season 24 was terrible, bland and absolutely boring. Why would you put Jessica & John there, they both were dumb enough not to use the Express Pass in Season 22’s Bali leg and the fact that he said “ I don’t need a million dollars” does not deserve him to go back. They are not All Star material. Also, 3-peaters Margie & Luke, Jet & Cord, Flight Time & Big Easy. They had their chance, wasted spots to others. They could axed the All Star Season and made it a normal season instead.

> Cut it with the twists. I am an Amazing Race purist. I just want a regular cast with people from all walks of life.

Mostly agree with this. 26 in my opinion was one of the worst seasons ever (although I think Jeff and Jackie did actually spark a relationship). I was very glad they went to Peru. I would've loved to see a switchback somewhere but honestly, Monaco was the only good thing about this whole season. I honestly hope that none of these teams, with the exception of maybe the Truckers, are in the next All-Stars/Unfinished Business, kind of like how they skipped out on 19 (which should've had some teams in All-Stars, and brings me to my next point).

Actually, I didn't mind seeing Flight Time and Big Easy and the Cowboys because they really added humor to a season that had only one funny team, Leo and Jamal. Margie and Luke, I do love them and all, but agree they are overplayed, also looking at how they placed this season. Why the f*** were the Brenchels, country singers, and John and Jessica brought back? And Jesus Christ, whose idea was it to bring the Twinnies back? Thank god they were eliminated immediately. Should've had TAR 19 teams like Justin and Jennifer, Amani and Marcus, or Bill and Cathi (RIP Bill), or even other teams from the previous seasons like the Chippendales or Tim and Marie. Agree with you on the tasks, the only really hard tasks were the detours in Malaysia.

And yes, can we please just go back to normal teams of two? I really hope they don't keep doing this s*** because of how good TAR 29 worked out.

•   Editing
   
>     Recent Seasons have had terrible sub-par editing. Season 27 was a clear example. They focused much on Justin & Diana that even to a point that even the previews for next week included them. Also, the rivalry with Tanner & Josh looks milked. First few episodes revolved around their rivalry leading to the underdeveloped 8th -10th place teams. There were scenes there that are clear that were cut. I remember one of the contestants noted that what they said were cut or shortened. Also, there were no more suspense found on recent seasons. Where are the suspense-style edits?

>   Please announce each team placements when they arrive at the mat. We do not see these nowadays, even the reactions of the teams. Also, the pitstart where the team who won the last leg reads the clue for the next destination. We need to see that again Moreover, Phil narrates it now. We do not get to see teams interact and they capitalize on 2 teams just like Season 28’s Blair + Blodie = Blodie. Atrocious, they could have used that time to explore the city more + team interactions. Don’t give the viewers something forced.

>   In Season’s 27-28, the pit stop greeters are lessened and they are an important element in the Race. I miss seeing interactions with the greeters. We now only get it through secret scenes where only a few get to see it.

>   The editing is very fast-paced in recent seasons. It is just too much to take into.

Nothing to say about this. Agree with all of this. I also would prefer that the opening sequence didn't show all the locales visited because I personally not a big fan of spoilers, but maybe that's just my opinion.

•   Routes/Countries Visited

>   I love that the Race has been visiting new countries lately from Season 25-28. Malta, Monaco, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Armenia and Georgia. Good job to the production for doing that. Also, visiting undervisited countries are also good such which they did in recent seasons. I would suggest mixing overvisited countries with undervisited countries and couple that with a new country or two. Season 25 did that. The only let down for that route was the U.S. Virgin Islands, they could replaced that with a Bahamas leg or any Central American or Caribbean leg. Also too much Europe overload, the Italy leg should have been a different leg.

Personally, I loved they visited USVI, because I think people tend to forget that it's a part of America. TAR 29 also did a good job of visiting undervisited countries such as Greece and South Korea, but then again it also lacked any new country.

>  In visiting Asia, please visit other nations as well. We’ve been getting China, India, Indonesia, Japan… What about Israel, South Korea, The Philippines, Maldives, Cambodia? Stop visiting overused countries back to back or consecutively in Asia.

No to Israel. My political opinions aside, this country is way too controversial, and it could hurt their ratings big time which could lead to the cancelling of their show. Not worth it in my option. Middle East needs to definitely go back to Egypt (one of the best parts of TAR 5, and to avoid danger, go to Hurghada and Alexandria) and Oman, and new visits to Jordan, Lebanon, and even Pakistan (which is a lot safer than people think, and I think it would show people how Pakistan is not a "terrorist country" like so many people believe). UAE, while it has a place in my heart because I studied abroad there, is too overvisited lately, and even so, there's more to UAE than just Dubai. TAR 23 was good by going to Abu Dhabi, but you also have other emirates like Sharjah.

Agree on China, or at least visit places outside of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Go to Lhasa, Chongqing, Ürümqi, Xi'an, Xiamen, etc. India, if you actually think about it, the only recent seasons to go to India were 18, 20, and 27, so I think we'll be seeing India soon. Indonesia is great, but I think they realized they forgot to use it in the first 18 seasons and tried to make up for it by going to it so much recently.

WE NEED TO GO BACK TO MONGOLIA. Also we need to see visits to Laos, Myanmar, and definitely Nepal. Maldives soon, seeing as climate change is hurting the country and people to need to be encouraged to visit the Maldives while they still can. Would love to see Korea more, especially since it's a good place to fly back to the US from, with direct flights to all over the country. Would be nice to see Daegu or Busan. Also need more visits to the Stars, like Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, etc.

>  Europe. There are so many countries in Europe that are not visited so much, we have Greece, Finland, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Ireland, Iceland, Belgium, Lithuania. There are also countries that have never been visited before such as Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Slovakia, Montenegro and Bulgaria to name a few.

YES YES YES. Except for Spain and Norway, they don't belong in that list, as they have been done way more than the others on that list. I really don't see Slovakia happening, as much as it breaks my heart to say, because flights are so limited to Bratislava, the only major airport, so they would likely have to have both Austria and Czech Republic on that race so they can take a train to and from Bratislava. Latvia definitely deserves a visit soon, and Belgrade. They need to go outside of Istanbul in Turkey. Cyprus! Also with Russia, they need to go outside of Moscow and Saint Petersburg—Sochi, Stravropol, Novosibirsk, and Yakutsk to name some other ideas.

> Oceania, I am waiting for this one to pop up. Where's Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Fiji and Vanuatu. I still cannot fathom, why this continent, Oceania is not visited considering it is one of the safest continents and there are loads to be done there.

Agree. Wait to do Tahiti for a while (but when you do, the sand castles will make a great switchback), but we need return to Australia soon. Would love to see a visit to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands for an educational/somber moment in the race. Palau, Micronesia, Kiribati, and definitely Papua New Guinea.

> Africa, The last time I saw South Africa was in Season 7 and this country never even had a double leg. It really deserves a visit. Also Mauritius, last visited in Season 10 and it was underwhelming. Mauritius is one of the crown jewels in Africa. Such a diverse island with so much activities to do. Africa is one of the hardest continents and it would be nice to see them interact more with the culture with culturally relevant tasks and harder ones.

Agree with everything said in this. We need more visits to West Africa too, like Ivory Coast, Togo, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, to name some. Would love a return to Madagascar. Why has Ethiopia been visited once and Kenya was only visited to charter to Tanzania? Also, when returning to South Africa, go to new places like Durban and Port Elizabeth.

> South America, I'm glad Colombia gets a visit despite the travel advisory there. Cartagena, Colombia was awesome. Why visit Argentina many times, give others a chance. Bolivia, Uruguay, even Brazil needs a chance to be explored more.

Agree mostly. Brazil is overvisited. We need more Peru, and new visits to countries like Suriname and Guyana. But for the love of god, stop with Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

> Central America / Caribbean, I still don't get why this has not been visited that much. Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Panama. Hopefully, we will see Cuba soon.

This I disagree on. One of the great things about Amazing Race is that it tries to expand the horizons of Americans who want to/like to travel. Americans visit Central America and the Caribbean WAY too much. Cuba will be one exception to this for me because I think Americans have a negative view of Cuba and really need to see their culture.

> North America, It is about time that Canada needs to get a decent visit. We've only seen it visited last Season 8. It would be also good for Jon Montgomery ( TAR Canada's host) to be a pit stop greeter.

Basically same thing as I said before for Central America/Carribean, but I do like the idea for Canada if they do decide to go there. But still would prefer not. Didn't really like how they went to Mexico in TAR 28 because it's a country that everybody who travels goes to and is in general overvisited in real life.
•   Cast

>   Season 22, Season 23, Season 25 had a really great cast very diverse in my opinion. Season 27 also has a great cast but they did not develop them all properly. The only let down for Season 25’s cast for me was Keith & Whitney. Absolutely bland and boring. They both had their share in Survivor, so don’t steal another teams spot on the Amazing Race. Stop casting Big Brother, Survivor reality crossovers to join the Race. They have had their share of fame. They are obviously stealing a valuable spot to those who have applied.. Kudos for casting Bethany Hamilton in Season 25, a real inspiration for those with disabilities.

>   Please do cast older married teams. They were normally part of at least every season before. We’ve had 1 in Season 26, Jeff & Lyda, they were 1st eliminated. We need grandparent teams like Bill & Cathi from Season 19. The Race finds it easy to cast 40-50’s aged M/M teams: Rowan & Shane, Michael & Scott, Art & JJ, Ron & Bill, Bopper & Mark but finds it hard to cast 40’s-50’s aged F/F teams. The last one was Carol & Brandy from Season 16. Mona & Beth of Season 22 were close but they were in their late 30’s.

>   Also, cast stronger F/F teams. Kym & Alli were gold. I have no problem casting Models/Beauty Queens, as long as they are like Dustin & Kandice, why can’t the Race find another similar pair like them. Also, Brooke & Claire when TAR can find another similar team like them. We need F/F’s that have Beauty, Brains and Brawn with a sense of humor. They always find alpha-male teams but limit it to at least 1 or 2. Tanner & Josh were my favorite alpha-male team.

>   Please cast Americans across America. Most people who get casted are in the California area. There are many great personalities found in all states.

>     We need diversity in every cast

> If the production team were to cast a semi-famous or famous teams. Limit it to at least 2 teams. I know some of them are huge fans of the Race but don't cram them all in one season.

YES TO ALL OF THIS.

•   Tasks

>   Tasks nowadays look easy. Let me just say of all the things you could do as a Roadblock in Armenia, it would be changing an oil in a hill somewhere near the pitstop. It is not culturally relevant. Season 27’s Buenos Aires leg where the Detour was to deliver a statue. What on earth is this monstrosity? Most tasks in Season 27 involve waiting in line to get a turn. What is this grade school? It makes it predictable who gets booted. The only thing that saved it was the mishaps and mistakes of each team. The most recent one, Season 28’s Indonesia 2 leg Detour: Deliver 50 coconuts and 4 chickens, there are so much more to do than just that in Indonesia. In a nutshell, most of the tasks are just plain simple, no thrill, no challenge. I do not need to mention Season 24. A teenager or even a child could finish some of the tasks there. We need tasks that are both physically and mentally challenging and culturally relevant at the same time

Yep.

•   Recurring & New Elements on the Race:

>   Fast Forwards - Please include Fast Forwards per Season, a harder one compared to the other tasks on the same leg.

>   U-Turns – Please put U-Turns strategically on the Race. Do not put it after a Non-Elimination leg as it puts the team with a Speed Bump at a disadvantage. Also it would be nice to add a new U-Turn such as Triple U-Turn in early legs of the Race such where 8-10 teams remain.

>   Speed Bump – Could the Speed Bump at least be a culturally relevant one where locals really do it. I find some of the recent Speedbumps quite irrelevant.

>   Intersection – Could we see the return of this one. It has been ages since we last saw it.

>   Yield – Apart from the U-Turn, The Yield is also a great element to add a bit of suspense where you get to slow a team down. I would suggest it would be a Double Yield


Don't really want to see the Yield again, but I do agree with everything else. Also, I'd like to see them bring back elements they used once but never again, like the hazard and double elimination legs (I personally think that made episode 2 of TAR 19 really thrilling). Definitely want to see the Intersection again.

Additional Comments/Suggestions:

>   For the premiere episode, it would be good if it was at least 2 hours or an hour and a half to give us the opportunity to at least get to know the teams more and make it not too rushed on the editing because you are fitting 11 teams in one episode and that is hard. Everyone must be memorable even for a 1st boot. It would also be good to have at least 2 Roadblocks and 2 Detours on the 1st leg.

>   Revert back to Sunday viewing timeslot as Amazing Race is a family-oriented show and most families would bond on Sundays and stay at home.

>   Have us fans get to help develop the Race for the benefit of the show as well

>   Remove the geoblock at TAR’s Youtube page and give access for people to see it.

>   Where exactly are the harder finales? we need this back Recent finales have been bland and boring.

>    I am missing the competitiveness of the teams against each other along with competitive and suspenseful style edits.



Bottomline: Look back at the previous seasons where you have had success and capitalize on that. As Pi said above, do not fix something that is not broken.

Hear, hear!

[dryedmangoez]

This thread is stickied, but can we bump this up. Because seriously, TAR has had many problems in the last couple of years that could be easily fixed. But nowhere did anyone suggest the desperate move of casting people from higher rated shows with the hopes they would somehow bring over move viewers.

People will come back to TAR if it is good, not because of any quick high it could possibly get from an entire cast of reality show rejects alums.

[georgiapeach]

STOP RECRUITING RACERS. JUST...STOP!

There are PLENTY of great candidates out there spending many seasons applying.

Part of the charm of TAR is thinking, oh I could do that. I could apply. That could be me.

When casting chooses racers based on feelers sent to gyms/clubs/categories like blue eyed lumberjacks/ size two lady wrestlers/some hunk I saw in a bar/you name it... the whole premise is jeopardized.

GO BACK TO OUR ROOTS FOR CASTING.

YOU DO NOT NEED GIMMICKS or THEMES.

Take people who know and love the show enough to APPLY.

Just ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

When people like me...who adore the show, haven't missed an episode EVER, are seriously thinking about giving whole seasons a miss...something is VERY wrong.

[BourkieBoy]

It's called THE AMAZING RACE for the reason!

Only use people who APPLY! People like me who don't watch Survivor (US) or BB, I will not know who's contestants are from these shows. And that's the WHOLE point o the show! To KNOW the contestants!

KEEP IT AS IT WAS PRE-TAR 26! 

[Leafsfan]

It's called THE AMAZING RACE for the reason!

Only use people who APPLY! People like me who don't watch Survivor (US) or BB, I will not know who's contestants are from these shows. And that's the WHOLE point o the show! To KNOW the contestants!

KEEP IT AS IT WAS PRE-TAR 26! 

I am sure you not knowing the contestants is CBS' number one worry.

[Marionete]

I pointed out how you're making no sense with that argument in another thread, and yet you are still repeating it.

[dryedmangoez]

When people like me...who adore the show, haven't missed an episode EVER, are seriously thinking about giving whole seasons a miss...something is VERY wrong.

This!
And sadly, many have already given up on the show.

Really nothing wrong with the format. The international TARs show that. It's just the execution when it comes to tasks, leg design and obviously casting. But again, international TARs shows that you can have great casts without contrived gimmicks.

[Palperro]

TAR31 is another reason to move to Canada.

[BourkieBoy]

Am I the only one thinking that one day there could be a The Amazing Race: 'All-Stars v Fans' Edition?

This would require some famous TAR All-Stars (Amy & Maya, Chris & Alex, Rob & Brennan, etc) against normal ordinary American fans of TAR.

I personally see this happening one day in the future, but what about you guys?

Again, what about The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition? Now, I know y'all thoughts on this, but again, I can certainly this happening, with the way TAR is recruiting racers

Finally, what about The Amazing Race: USA Rush? This would be just like normal TAR, but with expats living in the US, going around the country (Just like TAR: China Rush). Personally, I think this could happen to ANY country around the world such as Australia, UK, etc. I would like to see this happen, but then again, you Americans Probaly wouldn't wanna watch expats going around the country you know so well! 

Time to revive this thread! 

(I am sorry Peach, if this is the wrong thread. Please move it to the Wishlist thread, if you seem it's needed over there )

[RachelLeVega]

Finally, what about The Amazing Race: USA Rush? This would be just like normal TAR, but with expats living in the US, going around the country (Just like TAR: China Rush).

I think there was already a travel show similar to this concept that aired in the late 00's. I can't remember the name of it...  It was moreover informative entertainment rather than competition.

[georgiapeach]

The problem with Racers vs Fans is that ANYONE who has raced previously has a HUGE advantage against someone who has not...a lot of the mechanics of racing/directions/cameras/interviews etc is learned along the way. Someone who knows the system will have a huge advantage, at least for the first few legs.

[Marionete]

The same goes for Survivor, I think, and yet they've done multiple seasons of that format.

[dryedmangoez]

Finally, what about The Amazing Race: USA Rush? This would be just like normal TAR, but with expats living in the US, going around the country (Just like TAR: China Rush).

I think there was already a travel show similar to this concept that aired in the late 00's. I can't remember the name of it...  It was moreover informative entertainment rather than competition.

NBC's Treasure Hunters!

[BourkieBoy]

I can see us, in the next All-Star edition, having a TAR 29-esque schoolyard pick

This would be amazing, as we could have people like Chris & Maya and Flo & Brooek (imagine. They would get NOTHING done!  )

[RachelLeVega]

Finally, what about The Amazing Race: USA Rush? This would be just like normal TAR, but with expats living in the US, going around the country (Just like TAR: China Rush).

I think there was already a travel show similar to this concept that aired in the late 00's. I can't remember the name of it...  It was moreover informative entertainment rather than competition.

NBC's Treasure Hunters!

Yes! Thank you for bringing that back into memory!

[Gra1162]

The same goes for Survivor, I think, and yet they've done multiple seasons of that format.

Yep and I think none of the FANs won only the FAVs am I correct? Even blood vs water

[georgiapeach]

Back to TAR please....

[Hubickichibi]

[Granth]

Once 31 finishes its (one hour-long episode per week) broadcast in August, it would be a good back-up plan to air 32 a couple of months later on All-Access in the event that the autumn schedule has no room for it.

[georgiapeach]

Once 31 finishes its (one hour-long episode per week) broadcast in August, it would be a good back-up plan to air 32 a couple of months later on All-Access in the event that the autumn schedule has no room for it.

Doubt seriously that will happen!   

[life4orce]

The problem with Racers vs Fans is that ANYONE who has raced previously has a HUGE advantage against someone who has not...a lot of the mechanics of racing/directions/cameras/interviews etc is learned along the way. Someone who knows the system will have a huge advantage, at least for the first few legs.

Maybe they could try a "Pro-Am" format, where one 'normal/every day contestant' is paired up with a celebrity/TAR All Star. 

Here's a twist idea, one leg, teams will be split up and paired with another partner (twist on an intersection) randomly.  You could then either
 a. eliminate the last team and the remaining 2 players that formed the new team remain in the game as a new
   team
 b. eliminate both teams
 c. keep everyone, but the two teams would start last with some sort of penalty
 d. losing teams get put back together and head to head determines who leaves.

[G.B.]

Well, I gotta say... The Amazing Race (US) is now two for two on taking elements invented in International versions and ruining them. First the Head-to-Head and now the Must-Vote U-Turn with its stupid method of public voting as a way to inject artificial drama.

See, this is what makes it so hard to say whether or not you like or dislike a season. Season 31 has been really great so far, even if it has my least favourite racer of all time in it, but it still has the bad Head-to-Head and the bad U-Turn in it, which really sours things. Do I like 31, do I hate 31? I really don't know.

Where are we going in the future? Maybe back to Season 25 style? That one was good...

[Hubickichibi]

It would be fun if TAR doing Star edition (returnee or celebrity) every after 2 TAR with new racers

[georgiapeach]

Or NOT....